A graph showing the price of petrol increasing at the same time as the price of crude oil drops.
Rising fuel prices anger
SALLY GLAETZER
January 22, 2009 08:27am
TASMANIAN drivers are "venting their spleen" over the cost of diesel and unleaded petrol.
Prices for unleaded rose by about 10c a litre across the state over the past week, despite a solid fall in the cost of crude oil over the same period.
RACT spokesman Vince Taskunas said yesterday: "Tasmanians are being gouged by the oil companies, by the huge increases in refinery margins".
The Australian Institute of Petroleum website showed that since January 12 the cost of unleaded petrol no longer followed the price of crude oil.
"There's been this artificial inflation at the refinery level," Mr Taskunas said. Retailers had passed the increase on to drivers almost immediately.
"Our members are just furious and they are venting their spleen," he said.
Another cause of rage was the fact that a litre of diesel cost 10c to 15c more in Tasmania than in other parts of Australia.
"Diesel's been overpriced in relation to other centres for months and months," Mr Taskunas said.
"No doubt those who bought diesel cars because it was cheaper and better for the environment are feeling the pinch," he said.
Michael Campbell, of Midway Point, is one of those.
"The main reason I got a diesel car was because it was so much cheaper and a bit better for the environment," Mr Campbell said.
That was in the mid 1990s when diesel was about 70c a litre.
Yesterday the average price of diesel in Hobart was 136.2c and the average price of unleaded petrol was 113.1c.
"You still get better mileage but it doesn't really pay for itself as it used to," Mr Campbell said. "It's a bit of a burden."
He would soon replace his Toyota Hilux and it would definitely not be with another diesel, he said.
"The environmental factor is still important but there comes a point where the dollar value wins out," he said.
Mr Taskunas said it was time Australian Competition and Consumer Commission petrol chief Joe Dimasi investigated why Tasmanians were forking out so much for fuel. |
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